Index of Contents Page Chapter Title No. Executive Summary 3 Background of Government of Bihar’s Response vis- 1 8 à-vis Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.5649 of 2008 Status of Backwardness of Scheduled Castes and 2 13 Scheduled Tribes in Bihar A. Relative Social Status of SCs and STs in Bihar 14 B. Relative Economic Status of SCs and STs in Bihar 16 C. Educational Backwardness of SCs and STs in Bihar 21 D. Conclusions 25 Representation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled 3 27 Tribes in Rvariouse p governmento r t services o n Overall Administrative Efficiency of Govt. Machinery 4 in the light of Reservations in Government Services in 44 (1 ) St a Bihart u s o f Ba c k w a r d n e s s of Sc h e d u l e d Ca s t e s (S C ) an d 5 SynthesisS andc h e Conclusionsd u l e d Tr i b e s (S T ) in Bi h a r 52 References 56 (2 ) In a d e q u a t e Re p r e s e n t a t i o n of SC s an d ST s in St a f f i n g of Annexures Go v e r n m e n t Se r v i c e s ; an d I Population of Scheduled Castes in Bihar II Population of Scheduled Tribes in Bihar (3) IIOI veraAll Asampledm inofi scastetra-tbasedive Ematrimonialfficienc yadvertisementsof Gover npublishedment Min alocalchi nery in th e li g newspapersh t of R e s e r v a t i o n s in Go v e r n m e n t Se r v i c e s in Bi h a r IV Identification of landless Mahadalit families for provision of homestead land V Literacy rates of various social groups in various districts of Bihar VI Literacy rates of various Scheduled Castes of Bihar VII Article on access to higher education for disadvantaged social groups VIII Representation of SC &ST staffAu g inu s promotionalt 20 1 2 grades IX Observations of Justice O. Chinnappa Reddy X Tax collection by Department of Commercial Taxes between 1985-2012 XI Response of various Department regarding efficiency of SC ST staff SC & ST We l f a r e De p a r t m e n t Go v e r n m e n t of Bi ha r Index of Contents Page Chapter Title No. Executive Summary 3 Background of Government of Bihar’s Response vis- 1 8 à-vis Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.5649 of 2008 Status of Backwardness of Scheduled Castes and 2 13 Scheduled Tribes in Bihar A. Relative Social Status of SCs and STs in Bihar 14 B. Relative Economic Status of SCs and STs in Bihar 16 C. Educational Backwardness of SCs and STs in Bihar 21 D. Conclusions 25 Representation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled 3 27 Tribes in various government services Overall Administrative Efficiency of Govt. Machinery 4 in the light of Reservations in Government Services in 44 Bihar 5 Synthesis and Conclusions 52 References 56 Annexures I Population of Scheduled Castes in Bihar II Population of Scheduled Tribes in Bihar III A sample of caste-based matrimonial advertisements published in local newspapers IV Identification of landless Mahadalitfamilies for provision of homestead land V Literacy rates of various social groups in various districts of Bihar VI Literacy rates of various Scheduled Castes of Bihar VII Article on access to higher education for disadvantaged social groups VIII Representation of SC &ST staff in promotional grades IX Observations of Justice O. Chinnappa Reddy X Tax collection by Department of Commercial Taxes between 1985-2012 XI Response of various Department regarding efficiency of SC ST staff 2 Executive Summary This report has been prepared by the Department of SC & ST Welfare, Govt. of Bihar, pursuant to letter no. 125 dt. 22/06/12 of the General Administration Department, Government of Bihar and with reference to the Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.5649 of 2008 in the High Court of judicature at Patna and the Letters Patent Appeal No.1225 of 2011 in Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No. 5649 of 2008 (with Interlocutory Application No. 5968 of 2011 and Interlocutory Application No. 5969 of 2011 in Letters Patent Appeal No.1225 of 2011), with the intent to determine the relative level of backwardness of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Bihar, inadequacy of their representation in various government services, including Engineering Service(s), and the impact if any, of SC/ST quotas in promotions on the overall administrative efficiency of government machinery. Reservations have been envisaged in the Constitution of India as an affirmative action/intervention to deal with historical societal marginalization of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in India. Initially, the Supreme Court in its judgment dated 16.11.1992 in the case of Indra Sawhney had held reservation in promotion as unconstitutional but allowed its continuation for five years from the date of judgment as a special case. The 77th amendment to the Constitution was made in 1995 before expiry of five year, which enabled the Government to continue reservation for SCs and STs in promotion. Another important amendment to the constitution is the 85th amendment, which provides for reservation to the SCs and the STs in promotion with consequential seniority and the instructions issued by the Government for such reservation in Central Government services are continuing till date. Many state governments referred these amendments for designing schemes for reservation in case of promotion for SC/ST along with consequential seniority. In many cases, however, policies related to reservation in promotions were challenged through several writ 3 petitions as being unconstitutional. All these cases were clubbed together and heard by the Supreme Court in M. NagarajVs UOI &Ors. The Supreme Court, while ruling that the 77th& 85th Constitutional amendments were constitutionally valid, further ruled that these are enabling provisions and states will have to make out a case for providing reservations in promotion based on quantifiable data and satisfy the court that such reservation became necessary on account of inadequacy of representation of SCs/STs in a particular class or classes of posts without affecting the general efficiency of service as mandated under article 335 of the Constitution. The Supreme Court thus ruled that if a State Government (or for that matter Central Government) wants to provide reservation to SCs and STs in promotion, along with consequential seniority, a case will have to be made out satisfying the three conditions: collecting of quantifiable data showing backwardness of the class and inadequacy of representation of that class in public employment; ensuring compliance with Article 335 which says that while making reservation, due consideration is to be given to maintenance of efficiency of administration; and ensuring that the reservation provision does not cross the ceiling of 50% and does not obliterate the creamy layer and that the reservation does not extend indefinitely. In keeping with the directive of Hon’ble High Court of Patna and the decisions of Supreme Court of India, the Government of Bihar has sought to determine the relative level of backwardness of the SCs and STs in Bihar, inadequacy of their representation in various government services, including Engineering Service(s), and the impact if any, of SC/ST quotas in promotions on the overall administrative efficiency of government machinery. Among other sources, this report is partly based on the analysis of data made available by various departments of government of Bihar. Responses of various departments of Government of Bihar to purposive questionnaires have also been taken into account, particularly with regard to representation of SC/ST staff and the impacts of reservation on overall 4 administrative efficiency. In addition, relevant data drawn from various Census of India publications (2001), National Sample Surveys and various other prominent publications have also been used in this report. Based on the analysis of available data and the responses of the concerned departments, this report shows how persistent social backwardness and relatively disadvantaged economic status added with limited educational achievements have hindered the pace of SC/ST communities’ development in comparison to other social groups in Bihar. This could be seen in available data, which exposes that even after six decades of independence these communities are compelled to live and work in extremely difficult conditions. Over 90 percent of the total SC and ST population live in villages. Two thirds of SCs and STs in Bihar are poor and 71 percent of them are non-literate. Only 4 percent SC and ST in the state could manage to study up to graduation and above level. 83% of the sanitation workers hail from Dom, Mehtar and Bhangi communities. This socio-economic status and limited educational qualification is reflected in SC and ST communities’ space in government jobs. There is a visible concentration of SCs and STs in fourth grade jobs and a striking under-representation at senior positions in the Government of Bihar. Representation of SC and ST communities is very negligible in senior positions and in some departments there is no SC and/or ST personnel at senior positions at all. These facts clearly indicate that reservation in promotions is needed for ensuring their representation in government services. The report underscores the visible, though inadequate, improvement in the quality of life of SCs and STs due to policies of affirmative action. In fact, representation of staff under reserved SC/ST quotas is less than 5% across most services having sufficient promotional positions.